Hungry McGeeney has taste for big time

Mark McGeeney: taste for big-time darts

OLDHAM’S town team main man Mark McGeeney has already been hitting the practice board in preparation for another tilt at the BDO Lakeside World Championship title next year.

Stockport-based McGeeney (43) is fresh from making his debut at the iconic Frimley Green venue, reaching the last 16 stage where he lost to 2015 champion Scott Mitchell.

McGeeney — seeded 11th thanks to a superb maiden year on the BDO professional circuit — lost in the sudden-death leg at the end of seven pulsating sets after missing EIGHT earlier potential match-clinching darts.

Despite that disappointment, McGeeney took defeat with a huge smile and stayed on until the end of the tournament last night. He returns to work as a machine engineer tomorrow morning.

Having had a taste of the big time in world darts, McGeeney is hungry for more: “It’s been a brilliant tournament and I’ve enjoyed every second,” he said. “The crowds have been brilliant, the other players have all been so friendly and it’s just been so much bigger and better than I expected. That’s why I need to get back here next year.

“I’ve been practising on the boards here at the Lakeside since Friday. I’ve just got to get better and better and, all being well, I’ll go a few stages further.”

McGeeney has clearly lapped up the adulation, the media focus and big crowds at the Lakeside.

His comfortable first-round win against Swedish number one Peter Sajwani and then his subsequent heroics in defeat against ‘Scotty Dog’ will have earned him an army of new fans.

‘The Gladiator’ added: “It’s been great being the centre of attention. People have been stopping me and asking me for autographs, pictures and things like that. It has been more hectic than I had imagined, but I’ll be back next year.”

McGeeney’s next major ranking tournament takes him across the sea at the end of January when he’ll bid to make another big impression at the Dutch Open.